Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for maintaining a level media stack in a media tray used in an image production device that uses a plurality of selectively-controllable inflatable bladders in the base of a feed tray and corresponding stacker base, as well as the corresponding apparatus and computer-readable medium.
The structure of certain types of customized media, such as Docucards, creates a height bias from end to end when stacked in the feed tray as well as the output in the stacker. Without assistance feeding of such media from the feed tray is difficult at best, and any success can only result from a small stack in the tray. This requires excessive reloading of the tray. The most common work around today is the use of cardboard shims to compensate for the uneven stack level in the feed tray, but that is limited for effective capacity (100-200 sheets). Since these shims are customized by the operator, the same level of success cannot be counted on from operator to operator and is dependent on the operator's patience, skill, and understanding of the problem. Another option, available through CAS, is the DocuCard enablement kit for iGen. This is also limited in the number of sheets that can be stacked for successful feeding (250 sheets), and is not robust enough to handle different configurations (card placement on the sheets).